1862 - 1872

The Bank in Winterthur (Link to 1912), the first antecedent of UBS, opens for business. Winterthur, a city 25km northeast of Zurich, is an industrial hub and home to the burgeoning Swiss locomotive and cotton industries. The bank has an initial share capital of 5 million CHF and is founded by the peers of Winterthur's democratic mayor Johann Jakob Sulzer.

The Basler Handelsbank (Link to 1945) with a share capital of 10 million CHF opens its doors in Basel.

Both these institutions issued banknotes in their own right, which circulated throughout Switzerland until the founding of the Swiss National Bank in 1907.

Switzerland experiences rapid industrial growth (railways, electrification and machine and mechanical engineering) with vast demands for capital.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Swiss Red Cross are founded in this decade.

Unification of Italy

The Toggenburger Bank (Link to 1912) in the Canton of Sankt Gallen is founded with a share capital of 1.5 million CHF.

In the Swiss Capital of Berne, the Eidgenössische Bank (Link to 1945) with an initial share capital of 30 million CHF open for business.

At the height of the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, 16th U.S. President, holds his famous Gettysburg Address where he invokes the principles of human equality, that "governments of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth".

Switzerland joins the Latin Monetary Union, until its demise in 1927 the world's largest such union (with France, Belgium, Italy and Greece as members).

Invention of the first practical mechanical typewriter.

Leo Tolstoy's major epical work "War and Peace" is published in book form.

The 164 km Suez Canal opens, creating a new 'highway to India'.

Under the leadership of Bank in Winterthur (and under its patronage) the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works, Winterthur, is founded.

Giuseppe Verdi performs "Aida" in Cairo.

After the victory of Prussia and its allies in the Franco-Prussian War (1870/71), Germany is united under the leadership of Prussia.

In Basel, the Basler Bankverein (Link to 1896) is founded with a share capital totalling 30 Million Swiss Francs. Its roots reach back to the 1850s when a group of six private Bankers had formed the short-lived Bank-Verein, a consortium to meet jointly major capital requirements. The City of Basel, located at one of the main crossroads of Central Europe, is the home of a major export industry ("Silk-ribbon- industry") and houses the headquarters of important merchants, factors and agents.

The first international football match to be recognised (retrospectively) by FIFA as "official" takes place at Hamilton Crescent, Scotland, between Scotland and England.